


The Doors of Deception

by LexiTheDoubleedge



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Brainwashing, Hypnotism, Multi, Revenge, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, bimbofication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 05:26:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18910468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiTheDoubleedge/pseuds/LexiTheDoubleedge
Summary: (Divergence from WestOrEast's Role Reassignment)Lisa wasn't just going to -let- someone brainwash her.Deciding that before the brainwashing started would have helped, but she'd just have to figure something out. Quickly.





	1. Fragmentation

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Role Reassignment](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16810144) by [WestOrEast](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WestOrEast/pseuds/WestOrEast). 



> This is a takeoff from WestOrEast's Role Reassignment, diverging early in Chapter 3. Enjoyment of that story is not required to enjoy this one, and may in fact diminish it.
> 
> To people who will know who they are when the time comes: Sorry, it just fit so well that I couldn't see it happening any other way.

I was _really_ ready for my power to supply some answers now. I opened the gates as much as I could, wanting to get information about this, what to do, how to fight it.

_Audio/visual program. Tinker-derived, intended for wide-scale behavioral modification. Turns girls into cheerleaders. Turns sluts like you into bimbos. Makes you realize you want a thick dick between your lips._

Holy shit, it was trying to brainwash me. I could feel my eyes widening as my power told me more and more about the program I was watching. What it was, what it was doing, what it was trying to turn me into.

What it was starting to succeed in turning me into.

...

No, dammit, I wasn't going to give in like this!

I threw everything I had into pushing my power to go still further. What, what, what, all those whats aren't enough! I needed something more, something that lay behind this!

**-%#&**

It wasn't really as abstract as it seemed.

Words and images were only the surface, they concealed other signals. I could read things in them, the subtler assumptions underlying the framework. Sometimes they would produce unintended results, or have antisynergies with the more overt aspects that reduced the effect, but generally the entire package would overcome them those issues with sheer force.

That was a fancy way of saying that a tinker was involved with making this.

There were holes. Parahuman abilities that would block the effect entirely. Certain neural variations would blunt the effects. Most case 53s would have unpredictable and probably undesirable results.

None of which applied to me, but that didn't seem to matter much anymore.

Every element was sorted, cross-referenced, ranked. Short-term goals were separated out from long-term obsessions, the tools telling me about the toolmaker as well as about the project.

What's a bimbo even, that's just a word. Hundreds of words, each meaning hundreds of different things. Abstractions were dissected, reassembled into concrete specifications. Not just what the mind (or minds, not enough data) behind this not just said, but meant. Sometimes even what they didn't realize they meant.

A blueprint of my psyche, laid out for me to read. Changes made with pencil or pen or marker. Changes that were crossed out and replaced with different changes. Customizations of an existing template, most likely.

The full scope of what it took to make something like this video was made was beyond me. I just wasn't the right kind of Thinker to replicate something like this. But I could determine certain things about the system that made it. Methods of operation, limitations, ways to reconfigure it to achieve different effects. Details were uncertain, but the broad scope would be reliable enough for me to make plans.

All of that and more was imprinted on my mind, like an instruction manual that I'd read over and over so many times that I just wanted to set the thing on fire, throw it out the window, and throw myself after it, but then I'd lose my job and that would be bad, so I just kept rereading it even though I could already recite the names of every single washer and gasket in my sleep.

I'd never had a headache this bad in my entire life, but I welcomed it. The pain told me that it was working, that my power and my brain both were so occupied seeing the trees that I couldn't even begin to take in the forest.

Then the video clicked to a stop. I had about a second to realize that I'd only thought I had a bad headache before I blacked out.

**&%%#//%**

**}$##%%&**

Whatever else you might say about what was done to Milky Way and B- no, screw it, I may have to say it but I'm not going to think that -stupid- name, _Taylor_ , it at least didn't get rid of their capacity for sympathy.

Not that the first thing Milky Way suggested when I'd said I had a headache -wasn't- sexual healing, but she didn't push when I said moving just made it worse, and Taylor helped me get to a bed so I could sleep it off. Still a friend, even like this.

I couldn't go to sleep just yet though. I needed at least a bit of a plan.

My first instinct was to get while the getting was good. If I could get out of town before Coil realized I was available again, I could get myself so lost that he'd never find me again.

Of course, that required first getting out of the PRT building, which I didn't think would be so easy. That PR guy (at some point, I'd have to figure out what his -name- was) may have been a bit of a screwup as far as security went, but I'm sure someone would be watching if I actually tried to leave. And while I wasn't that bad an actress, there was no way I'd be able to last long enough for them to stop being suspicious of me.

Besides, it didn't sit right with me. What kind of heroine would I be if I just ran off in the face of something like this? A villain brainwashing heroes (and villains, and presumably anyone else he could get his hands on), right in the heart of the PRT? No. I couldn't do it.

The same concerns applied here as to running, though. I wouldn't be able to keep up the act for long. (If I was capable of that, I probably wouldn't have turned down Milky Way's first offer. Hell, it probably would have worked.)

That meant I needed to move -fast-.

But I was pretty sure I already knew the right approach to take. And as long as Milky Way continued to be so friendly and helpful, it shouldn't be difficult to pull off at all...

I smiled as I drifted off to sleep.

***

"Like, I know I'm new and all, but I just want to thank him, you know?" I said in my best impersonation of bimbo-speak, my biggest and fakest smile plastered on my face.

Milky Way thought about it for a bit before nodding. "We can do it!" And then she led me off. "Bed Bug's old costume should fit you, and I can loan you my pompoms..."

My smile became a bit more real. Perfect.

***

And that's how I ended up in the PR guy's office in a makeshift cheerleader costume. It didn't really all match, but that was okay. Right now, he didn't want me as a cheerleader so much.

As had been made so very clear, he wanted my mouth.

He wanted to slide his dick between my lips.

I wanted to slide his dick between my lips.

And very shortly that's what happened.

It was a bit too long for me to get it all the way in my mouth, at least as I was now. But I got it in as far as I could.

Then I bit down as hard as I could.

And jerked my head to the side like a dog shaking a rat as hard as I could.

He screamed. But he wasn't down for the count yet. So I jabbed him with Milky Way's pompoms. The ones that were also tasers. They weren't very -good- tasers, but it was enough for me to knock him down.

After that, it was all over but the beating his skull in with his own stupid paperweight.

Giggling all the while.

***

Right now I just wanted to wash my mouth out with everything, but that wasn't really an option right now.

Instead, I carefully peeled the gloves off my hands. (I'd found them in Milky Ways closet, and convinced her I should wear them because "they make me look cute!" They also kept off the blood spatter.) It was one thing to make a mess of his desk, but I didn't want it to look like I'd been using his computer after he was dead.

His password was easy to guess, of course.

The office was soundproofed - he wasn't the type to like anyone else listening in on his 'conquests' - but that didn't mean my time was unlimited. But I knew what to look for.

As I made a few judicious edits to some of the videos in the system, I thought about my situation.

I wasn't sure I was the real Lisa anymore.

I'd never really wanted to be a villain - at least, not the kind I ended up becoming. But I'd never thought of myself as hero material either.

Until yesterday.

Maybe the Lisa of two days ago would agree that the best way to escape was over this guy's dead body. But the Lisa of today hadn't prioritized that. I'd considered stopping him more important than my own safety.

I moved a few more files around, made copies of a few things in a place where they wouldn't be found easily.

If this worked, the real Lisa - whoever that was - would be out again, and that would probably be enough to make it all worthwhile.

I logged out out of PR guy's account - his name didn't matter anymore - and logged in on my own. Queued up a video, put the gloves back on...

If this didn't work, then none of it would matter anyway.

I carefully hit the play button with a pencil before tossing it down by the body.

And then I just relaxed and let it happen.

***

Lisa woke up and briefly wondered where she was.

Then she saw all the blood and started screaming.

She made even more of a mess thrashing about the room, but eventually managed to find the phone, and made what several nearby takeout places thought were extremely disturbing prank calls before finding the internal emergency line and calling for help.

***

Which is how Lisa ended up back in her cell. No one really believed a slut like her could have deliberately killed anyone, leaving the best theory they had that someone (possibly the PR guy himself) had given her a very badly chosen order of some sort. But until they could arrange for a proper psychological assessment, they couldn't let her wander the building freely.

She was, however, allowed conjugal visits. Frequent, well-attended, extremely popular conjugal visits.

***

A week later, Milky Way decided it was time for a refresher of her own training.

Before things started going fuzzy on her, she realized that it seemed different from last time. Maybe he'd put together an improved version just for her before he died?

And the gears of Tattletale's revenge began turning once again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was largely inspired by it -looking- for a while like Lisa's power was going to break everything down so much that she didn't 'absorb' it and just comprehended it. And then that didn't happen. So I decided to write her pushing harder instead of trying to pull away...
> 
> The Doors of Deception - There are things true and things untrue and in between - wait, is this even mangling the right quote?
> 
> that -stupid- name - As a bad punster, am I being too hard on "Bed Bug"? ... Well, maybe it'd be different if bedbugs hadn't once featured in an episode of [The World's Most Terrifying Penises](https://dave-littler.livejournal.com/79734.html). Plus I don't think Tattletale would be impressed either way.
> 
> my best impersonation of bimbo-speak - Yeah, that's the author talking right there. The character should be able to do a good job of it, but my ability to do so is doubtful.
> 
> his name didn't matter anymore - It's so freaking awkward not having a name like this, but I tried to have some fun with it.
> 
> Lisa woke up and briefly wondered where she was. - This nearly said "Oratrix" instead of "Lisa", but after some thought I concluded that the name probably wasn't assigned yet at this point, so wouldn't make sense.


	2. Readme

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of this part, this kinda became an AU where Taylor was operating with the Undersiders for a while longer before the bank robbery. Because it's not a huge divergence from everything already - oh wait.

Vista, if you're the one reading this, I realize that we're not exactly friends. But if it is you, I've just done you a huge favor, so I hope you'll hear me out, especially since this should matter to you too. Oh, and if you don't and screw up because of it then we're probably -all- fucked.

Skitter, there's a couple things about the Undersiders that you need to know.

First, our mysterious employer is the supervillain Coil.

You may not have heard of him. He likes to keep a low profile, work through proxies whenever possible. Proxies like the Undersiders, but we're far from the only ones.

Second, while I -like- the team, I didn't join of my own free will. Coil's people had guns on me when he told me he wanted to 'buy my services'. It was pretty clear that I didn't have many good choices there.

I bring this up because I want you to think better of me. There, I said it. But that's not the only reason. You need to understand who you're dealing with. Coil likes having willing pawns, they give better results with less work on his part. But he'll take unwilling, if it's worth the effort. He's got his fingers in a lot of pies, and a lot more resources than anyone knows. And then there's his power. I haven't been able to figure out the details, but it's incredibly dangerous.

-DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE COIL.-

Now, the good news. Which is also the bad news.

It is really not Coil's style to just ignore us getting captured. Things may have gone bad at the bank, but a full team of parahumans isn't a resource to just throw away, and breaking us out would give him a stronger hold on us on top of that. It'd be worth the cost to him. There must be a reason why he's done nothing.

I already knew that Coil had a lot of inside information on the PRT. But there's more to it than that. In his civilian identity, he must be a member of the PRT himself, and probably a high ranking one - there's no way his ego would let him pretend to be one of the rank and file. He's leaving us alone because he's been caught in the same broad-scale conditioning that's been applied to the entire ENE branch.

It would be relatively trivial for you to use the files I've provided here to decondition everyone. Don't! If you do that, we're looking at a worst case scenario of being back where we started, an even worse case scenario of us ending up dead, and a worse still scenario of Coil getting the brainwashing tech himself. And trust me, he'll put it to far less benevolent uses than turning random underage parahumans into fucktoys.

You'll observe there is no best case scenario, only progressively worse ones. You need to be extremely careful who you decondition before Coil is stopped.

I can't really advise you how to go about doing that. I have no idea when you'll see this, or what else might have changed in the meantime. The other files you'll find alongside this note include everything I can think of about Coil's power, resources, and so forth. Hopefully it'll be enough.

After I finish this note, I'm going to finish brainwashing myself. You'll probably already know what I've done by the time you're reading this, and that it means my chances of joining you as another 'cheerleader' anytime soon are slim to none. That makes my position very tenuous - if it starts looking like I'm not at least in that box mentally, I could end up back on Coil's radar.

That leads to my final request. Don't decondition me until either you've absolutely, positively got Coil where he can't get away, or the PRT actually lets me free to join you two. It's too risky otherwise.

Vista, if you're still here, this next part's going to sound really cryptic, because it's for Skitter and she may or may not want to tell you.

Skitter, I -know-. And it's -okay-, it really is. Don't let it hold you back now.

Good luck.

TATTLETALE  
Reluctant heroine???


	3. Alternatives

**Alternatives?**

"Miss Director, it's me!" Milky Way called as she came into the office and shut the door.

Emily wasn't sure whether she should sigh or smile. On the one hand, the youngest Ward's endless energy sometimes just made her feel tired.

But on the other hand, sometimes it also made her feel invigorated. And, loath as she was to admit it, life had gotten much easier since the girl had convinced her to accept parahuman healing for her injuries. (That afternoon had gotten a bit... heated.)

Overall, she supposed she appreciated their little sessions, but she wasn't sure why Milky Way was here -now-...

Milky Way held up a tablet that started playing a video full of flashing black and white shapes, and Emily stiffened, eyes glued to the screen.

It ended in less than a minute, after which she slumped down a bit. Her eyes went wide as she realized the full enormity of the situation.

[DESTINATION]

**Alternatives?**

Emily's eyes went wide as she realized the full enormity of the situation.

Luckily, Vista was able to talk fast enough to convince her -not- to put the entire building into master/stranger lockdown.

**Alternatives?**

Armsmaster's head felt entirely clear for the first time in weeks. Ever efficient, he was already assembling the equipment they would need even as he and Vista discussed their plans.

He was also gaining new respect for Skitter. While he'd originally harbored doubts about the bug controller, her intelligence gathering abilities were likely to be crucial in the days ahead...

**Alternatives?**

Kid Win wasn't half the tinker that Armsmaster was, but he was far more easily accessible. His support would make gaining allies among the Protectorate far easier...

**~~Alternatives?~~ **

Although Clockblocker's sense of humor made him easy to underestimate, he would...

Wait, no. He wouldn't. Why was she even considering this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is mainly supposed to be Tattletale's show, but I wanted to show a little of what was happening while she was out of play. I just couldn't decide on one possible answer as to what that was...
> 
> Also, it's another step on my continuing quest to write every non-parahuman cast member I've had on screen triggering at least once.
> 
> (This is not actually something I'm trying to do.) (But if I were, I think it'd just be Danny left now? I think I only mentioned Charlotte, so that doesn't count. Also, I'm surprised more stories don't have Piggot becoming a parahuman. I've seen like one story where she triggers and one where she drinks a vial, that's not exactly a lot.)


	4. Fusion

Lisa was starting to get worried.

Over the past week, it seemed like fewer and fewer people had been coming to visit her... and then yesterday, there hadn't been anyone at all!

No one today either. Had she done something bad?

She knew something bad had happened, and that was why she was back in this cell. But they wouldn't have let so many people visit her if she'd been bad, right?

Lisa sighed and kept masturbating. She knew she should be happy, but it really wasn't enough. She wanted cock.

Or pussy.

Or cock.

Or pussy.

Or... what was she thinking about?

Lisa sighed again. She'd do anything to get some cock or some pussy right now.

At least, she thought she would. Though she was having a hard time figuring out what that would be. Everything she could think of that she could do itself involved cock or pussy, which just brought her back to where she'd started.

Lisa was thinking about trying to lick her own pussy again (so far she hadn't been able to bend that far, but maybe if she kept trying she'd manage it!) when she heard the door open.

It was her friend Bed Bug! She visited Lisa a lot, at least until recently. For some reason, she almost always came alone, and sometimes she would look sad when she didn't think Lisa was watching.

Lisa always noticed though. She didn't like seeing Bed Bug sad. Bed Bug should be happy, like Lisa was! So she'd always do her best to make her happy again. And Bed Bug's tits were so much fun to play with too. It was almost as much fun as sucking dick, and nothing was more fun than sucking dick, so saying playing with Bed Bug's tits was even close to that was really saying it was a lot of fun!

Bed Bug looked happy today, so that should have made Lisa happy too. But something was wrong. Her top wasn't sticking out the way it should.

Someone had stolen her boobies!

Why? Why would anyone do such a terrible thing? Lisa knew she'd been a villain before, and she'd done some bad things, but she was sure she'd never done anything as bad as stealing someone's boobies!

With that added onto the past couple days, Lisa's good cheer had finally reached it's limit. She turned away and started crying.

Moments later she felt Bed Bug settle down on the bed next to her and start patting her on the back. "Shhh. It's okay, Lisa, it's okay."

It didn't feel okay. If it were okay Lisa should be able to feel Bed Bug's boobies pressed against hers, and she couldn't.

But gradually the other girl's presence, touch, and softly whispered reassurances did their job, and Lisa's tears stopped coming.

"Lisa? Can you do something for me?" Bed Bug asked.

"Of course I can!" Lisa would be happy to do anything for her. Especially if it involved her pussy. Or her - wait, that wouldn't work anymore. Well, she'd just have to-

She was interrupted by Bed Bug pulling a tablet out of a bag that Lisa hadn't noticed she was carrying. "Can you watch this for me?"

Awww. That didn't sound like nearly as much fun. But maybe if Lisa watched the video, they could do something more fun afterwards! So she took the tablet and started the video.

As the strange spiraling shapes started playing, she was vaguely aware that something seemed off about them, but she wasn't sure why.

_Who are you? Are you you?_

_Visual program. Tinker-derived, intended for wide-scale behavioral metamodification. Turns people like you into people like you._

At first Lisa didn't understand what her power was trying to tell her...

_Reset._

But somehow, it seemed like it was becoming clearer...

_Be yourself._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You now have enough information to predict the name of the Epilogue.** Successfully do so, and win a prize!*
> 
> *This is a lie.
> 
> **This is not a lie.
> 
> Someone had stolen her boobies! - Most of this chapter wouldn't exist if I hadn't thought of this line...
> 
> Be yourself. - This is a stock component of the framework, not something Lisa made. Everyone needs the undo button sometimes.


	5. Epilogue

**Light**

I could almost feel the bemused look Taylor was giving me as I danced around my cell.

I didn't care. I was myself again, and I was free.

Free from Coil, anyway. Free from the PRT remained to be seen, but right now I wasn't worried about that.

Right now, what mattered was that I'd done it. They'd done it. -We'd- done it.

I grabbed Taylor's hands and pulled her up and into the dance with me.

Free.

The dancing pretty much petered out after that, since Taylor wasn't really playing along, even if she was smiling.

Then, on impulse, I kissed her.

We ended up back on the bed shortly after that.

**_Several months later..._ **

Piggot had finally given in to popular demand and allowed some benches to be installed on the roof of the PRT building. Some couples liked to come up here and look out at the city together... and there were a lot more couples these days.

Most of them came up here at night. Saying Brockton Bay looked better that way wasn't exactly a compliment, but maybe it meant something different when your day job was fighting some of the worst the city had to offer.

And it was still a pretty good place to come up and cuddle even during the day. That's what Taylor and I were doing, after all. It was a still a little bit chilly up here, even with our new -practical- costumes. (I'd seen sketches what that guy was intending to stick me in. No -thank- you.) But somehow that just made it even better to feel her arms around me sometimes.

A year ago I probably wouldn't have been able to handle this. But things change.

"Lisa? Why did you accept the offer to join the Wards?" Taylor asked.

It was a good question. I'd spent a lot of time thinking about it myself, after all...

\---

The entire thing had been a debacle for the ENE from top to bottom.

Jake Carlton was probably the one who I'd heard describe it best, or at least the way that amused me the most. "They'd have put us all in the stockade, except there wouldn't have been anyone left to lock the door behind us."

(Jake and his wife Cheryl both drove containment foam vans, and had been among my erstwhile visitors. They were among the relatively small set of that group that I'd actually managed to strike up a non-awkward friendship with after everyone had gotten deconditioned.)

It'd been a massive failure of their anti-master defenses. Not even getting Coil really helped make up for that, since they "should" have caught that infiltration before it became such a major issue. (Given that Calvert had been part of the PRT well before becoming a supervillain, I wasn't too convinced of that. Granted, they should have noticed that he was an -asshole- before that in my opinion.) The fact that nominal villains like Taylor and I had played such a major role in bringing both incidents to a conclusion didn't help.

Even granted that they weren't willing to just throw away an entire department's worth of people, there were only a couple things that'd really prevented the ENE from being broken, it's personnel split up between other regions while outsiders came in to take over here.

One was that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't all their fault after all. I hadn't been able to find out exactly what, but apparently there had been some mistake made on the national level that the leadership felt should have prevented our brainwasher from gaining a foothold here. It wasn't sure enough to declare anyone free of fault, but it was enough to create doubt.

The other, less admitted to reason (but probably the one that had the greater impact) was that the experience had changed everyone who had gone through it, and the other directors didn't really want to deal with any of them.

Things being such a mess had resulted in my ongoing interactions with the authorities being refreshingly free of high-pressure recruitment tactics. After the kind of trouble I'd saved them, trying to push me into the Wards would have been a PR disaster, with just throwing me in jail probably even worse. If I'd wanted to I could have just walked out. Gotten another new identity. There'd always be work out there for a Tattletale.

Yeah, and maybe the next megalomaniac looking for a pet thinker will just have two guys ready to shoot me on hand when he makes me a 'job offer'. Being a lone villain just wasn't a plan with a great track record.

I needed a team. Putting aside how we'd been formed, the Undersiders had been a great team. If the rest had still been available, I might have gone back to them. But the Undersiders had been broken. By now, we'd all made our own deals, some with a little help from me along the way. (Surprisingly, Rachel had just about been convinced even before I got involved. I still didn't know -what- they wanted her to help with in Nebraska, but they'd been willing to put a whole lot of effort into getting her on side with it.)

And there was one more thing. I'd learned later that Vista was the one who found my message first. If she'd wanted to throw me to the wolves (and Taylor too, for that matter), use us as bait to get Coil, she could have. There were some "heroes" that wouldn't have hesitated.

She hadn't, and neither had anyone else they'd worked with. That counted for something.

None of that would have been enough on it's own. But...

\---

I tried to make light of it for a bit. "Oh, I just don't think the villain life is for me anymore." It wasn't even wrong, really. "Besides, the Wards have one important thing that I can't get anywhere else."

"Oh?" Taylor replied. "And what's that?"

\---

Most of the people who had visited me while I'd been fully brainwashed were doing so for essentially selfish reasons.

That makes it sound more terrible than it really was. They'd been influenced too, after all. Based on what they'd been able to understand of the situation, I wanted the sex just as much as they did, and they enjoyed that I was enjoying it. And that wasn't even precisely wrong - even with the modifications I'd made to my programming, solitude would probably have driven me insane. It was definitely better that I'd had those visitors under the circumstances.

Still, they'd come because of their own desires. If they hadn't wanted sex, or hadn't wanted the sort of sex I could provide, they would not have been there.

But there was a very short list of exceptions, and Taylor topped the list. She hadn't always been 'herself' when she visited me - she and Vista had both made some strategic uses of putting themselves back under modified versions of their own conditioning, to make it easier to pull the wool over people's eyes. But usually, it'd been the real Taylor visiting me.

And she hadn't been there for sex. Not even if she'd gotten quite a bit of it.

She'd been there for me. To make sure that I was all right. To help me be all right, if it came to that. The old Taylor probably would have had trouble with that, but what had happened had changed her too.

Just like my experiences had changed me. It'd been easy to convince myself that I wasn't interested in sex or relationships when my power made them essentially impossible to have. And I still couldn't with most people. A little light flirting with Cheryl had proven -that- quickly enough, and with someone I normally liked at that. (I was glad I'd been able to explain what I was trying to do and get away with just a little added awkwardness there.)

But the people who'd been there because they cared about me... they were different. Some part of me had known the difference, even if I hadn't been able to consciously appreciate it. And so my power seemed to have 'accepted' them somehow. I could still use it on them if I wanted to, but it wouldn't go off on it's own, constantly telling me everything I never wanted to know about them. Because I already knew what mattered.

\---

I gave Taylor a quick peck on the cheek. "They have you."

\---

If Taylor had wanted to leave with me, things might have been different. We got along, we worked well together, and yes, the sex was fantastic.

If I'd asked her, she might have been willing to leave with me.

I didn't ask.

Taylor joining the Undersiders had been a fluke in the first place. A series of coincidences that, when you got right down to it, hadn't gone her way. Finding out that some of her heroes might not always have the purest of motives themselves would have hurt her, but it wouldn't have stopped her. It's unlikely that she would have joined the Wards herself, but I'd have bet on her becoming a successful independent.

It hadn't played out that way, of course. If the bank hadn't gone to hell, I think she'd have probably ended up sticking with the Undersiders, at least for a while. But the bank had gone to hell, and we'd ended up here. (I still thought Coil must have done -something- to make us get taken that hard, even if I couldn't figure out what he'd have gained by it.)

That, of course, was when things got really messed up. But I'd found an opening, and in my own slightly cryptic way I'd encouraged Taylor to follow her old dreams. Be a hero, defeat the villain, save the day. Arguably while not quite in my right mind, but I'm not sure I could really argue with the decision.

And she'd thrived. She was doing what she'd always wanted, and had formed some surprisingly good friendships with the local heroes in the process.

Not that there hadn't been some bumps in the road. Like the thing with Shadow Stalker, that had been a real mess. (That might have been the only time anything in this entire situation was actually made less awkward by the fact that everyone had been fucking each other.) But mostly she'd just been... really happy. It'd been so much better than she'd expected when she'd first rejected the idea of joining the Wards, despite the issues with how she'd ended up here. None of the mixed feelings that she'd felt when she'd been planning on betraying the Undersiders to taint things. It probably even helped more than it'd hurt that at least some of the group hadn't really wanted to stop having sex afterwards. Turns out sex is fun even when you aren't brainwashed.

(Though Vista had announced rather loudly that she was swearing off sex until she was older. In the middle of the main cafeteria at lunchtime. There was no applause, but the sense of relief was very palpable. I wasn't expecting her resolve to last much longer, based on the looks I'd seen her giving us, but I was pretty sure that everyone else was going to pretend it wasn't happening as long as she kept things inside the Wards.)

And then of course her father got involved. She'd managed to keep him from learning that she was a parahuman while she was working with the Undersiders, but disappearing for weeks? At least she'd gotten him a message that she was still -alive- after Vista deconditioned her, but since she neither explained nor came home that just gave him a different set of things to worry about.

Objectively speaking, not going to see him until after Coil was taken down and she could get Panacea to revert the changes to her body (except the fertility blocker) was probably the right decision.

It sure didn't feel like it when I was standing there with her, explaining what had happened. I'd been through my share of fights, but it was still unnerving standing in front of someone who was getting quite that close to beating someone to death with their bare hands, and knowing that I could very well become the target. After all, it wouldn't be that unreasonable to hold me responsible for everything that had happened to Taylor.

But he hadn't. He'd actually been surprisingly supportive of me in the end. Because Taylor would probably still have kept going out as an independent and gotten tangled up in things, even had she not gotten involved with the Undersiders, and it was my actions that had saved her. (Unsaid but implied was his appreciation that I'd killed the man responsible for it all. Revenge by proxy, as it were.)

Of course, he also made it clear that any attempts to drag her back into villainy would not be looked upon kindly. Not that I cared that much.

I couldn't do that to her anyway.

It just wasn't worth it anymore.

\---

It was so cute that Taylor could still blush when I said things like that.

"Want to go back inside?" I asked. "It's almost time for my favorite soap opera to come on."

Taylor shook her head. "Isn't it a bit rude to call it that?"

"But it's hilarious!" I cackled. Dean and Missy were both scheduled for patrols this afternoon, and I wondered if today would be the day she finally jumped him. Well, it could be any of us, but I was betting on him. She'd had a crush from well before I met either of them, and nothing that'd happened since had lessened it in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact. And since he could tell how she was feeling and wasn't that good at hiding that he'd noticed from her... it made a very impressive feedback loop.

Taylor sighed. "Yeah, let's go back in."

I smiled. While there had been some rough spots along the way, if I had to do it all over again... I'd make different decisions at nearly every possible juncture. But the past was what it was, and I was more than happy with what I had now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, this ended up being bigger than any of the chapters. Chapter sizing: I'm not good at it.
> 
> [Fusion <\--> Fragmentation = Light](https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Skillchains).
> 
> I'd like to note for reference purposes that only sex when she's not brainwashed counts for my "Tattletale getting laid" mission objective.
> 
> I'd make different decisions at nearly every possible juncture. - "Anything but Sue!" For some characters, saying they wouldn't change anything can be very powerful... but I just can't see Lisa going that route.


	6. Epiloge 2

**Double Light**

Within seconds of my leaving the elevator, Missy jumped me.

Taylor didn't stop laughing about it for days.


End file.
